Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was a German and Austrian composer.
Eisler was born in Leipzig where his Jewish father, Rudolf Eisler, was a professor of philosophy. In 1901 the family moved to Vienna.
His sister was Ruth Fischer (Elfriede Eisler), a leader of the German Communist Party (KPD) during the 1920’s, and author of The Sexual Ethics of Communism, and Stalin and German Communism: A Study in the Origins of the State Party.
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Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was a German and Austrian composer.
Eisler was born in Leipzig where his Jewish father, Rudolf Eisler, was a professor of philosophy. In 1901 the family moved to Vienna.
His sister was Ruth Fischer (Elfriede Eisler), a leader of the German Communist Party (KPD) during the 1920’s, and author of The Sexual Ethics of Communism, and Stalin and German Communism: A Study in the Origins of the State Party.
His brother was the journalist and Communist Gerhart Eisler, who was believed to be a major Comintern agent operating under the cover name of Hans Berger. Louis Budenz, a former managing editor of the Daily Worker, called him in a speech in the fall of 1946 "the Number One Communist in the U.S.". Time Magazine wrote of him, "He turned up in China, charged with purging the party of spies and dissidents, sent so many men to their deaths that he was known as 'The Executioner'".
During World War I Hanns Eisler served as a front-line soldier in the...
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